Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-10

I Henry H. Green, grand master of the Grand | lodge, F. and A. M., in a recent newspaper | interview regarding tho controversy with I Hiram lodge, is furnished for publication l by the committee of the latter lodge who l were in attendance upon the recent session ! of the Grand lodge:
 l Some time ago Hiram lodge issued an ad- I dress to the Free Masons of Connecticut l with view to making clear her position I with regard to the controversy which has since resulted in a severance of her relations
 with the Grand lodge. This address was ls-
 sued, not with the view of exciting contro-
 versy. but solely for the purpose of prevent
 ing any misunderstanding of the position of ! the lodge. It was supposed that it had ac- | complished its purpose until a recent publlca' ! tion in New Haven newspaper of report of an interview with Henry H. Green of Danielsonville, grand master, afforded incon- | testible evidence that there was one Mason in
 the State who either could not or would not recognize the real status of the case.
 Hiram lodge has, from the outset of the con-
 troversy in question, deprecated newspaper
 discussion of the difference between her and
 the Grand lodge, and up to the present time
 has studiously refrained from giving her | sanction to 8 single fine of public print touching the matter. The address above re- l ferred to, while of.,a semi-public nature, was not given to the public by..Hiram lodge, but, l on the contrary, was circulated by [ | and among Masons only. While deprecating | newspaper discussion of Masonic matters, how | ever, it is.felt that Grand Master Green having gone into the public prints to attack Hiram lodge, justice demands some reply to the extent, at least, of correcting any misappre- hension that may arise from the grand masters statements.
 It would be useless to rehearse at length
 the grounds of the controversy that led to the
 rupture between Hiram lodge and the Grand
 lodge. The public, certainly the Masonic
 portion of it, are already sufficiently we'll in-
 mics of Hiram lodge may, the simple fact
 remains that the Grand lodge, under the
 leadership of Grand Master Green and the little oligarchy of past grand masters who
 hold up his hands, has unsuccessfully sought
 to play the part of executioner solely because
 Hiram lodge, true to the traditions of it's
 founders, has refused to abandon it's ancient
 form of work promulgated by pioneers of
 the order in America, handed down from
 generation to generation and sanctioned by
 many years of use not only in the Blue lodge, but in the Grand lodge itself" Grand Mas
 ter Green may seek to disguise the issue un-
 der a mass of incidental controversies, but it
 will not be disguised. The stark, bald fact
 remains that Hiram lodge has been compelled
 to part company with her old associates sole
 ly because she could not conscientiously nor with self-respect yield to the exercise of an |
 power on the part of the Grand lodge.
 Grand Master Green talks fuently about a
 uniform method of work" which the Grand
 lodge has been seeking to establish, the only
 feature of which he says 'sHiram now takes
 exception to is the D. G." Let it be under
 stood that Hiram takes exception to nothing
 except the right of the Grand lodge to force
 her to abandon form of work which she re ceived nearly century and half ago and which she has consistently followed for many more years than the Grand lodge has had an existence. This fact of continuous use Grand l Master Green mildly begs leave to doubt, however, and states as his ground for doubt what he possibly considers fact, viz: that
 'at the time of the Morgan excitement Hiram | and good many other lodges practically lost the form of work" If the worshipful grand
 master had been better acquainted with the history of Hiram lodge he would have hardly ventured to make an assertion so easily con- trovertible. It happens to be one of the
 many commendable features of Old Hiram's
 proud record that during the 135 years of
 her existence-from the days of the colonies
 down to the present time-she has never
 missed holding a single communication, or as Historian Storer puts it, she continued her regular communications through all ad verse 'excitements'" Such being the fact the worshipful grand master will do we'll to secure another newspaper interview in order | to explain more exactly how it was that ! Hiram Host her work" If there is need of | more positive proof that Hiram did not lose her work during the Morgan excitement" it is not lacking. Under date of April 14th, 1887, AnsonsT. Colt, veteran of eighty-fve years and member of Hiram lodge since 1894, wIites from New York as follows: "I was master of Hiram lodge No. for two
 years, and at different periods held every en, treasurer and tyler, and the signs,
 grips and words were always given in the same way when l was initiated an entered apprentice" Hiram lodge hopes not to be considered presumptu-
 ous in preferring to rely upon the memory of
 even so venerable a brother es Past Master
 Colt rather than the suppositlon of the wor-
 shipful grand master, unsupported as it is by
 even the slightest vestige of fact.
 Having thus vainly sought to defend his
 action in trying to chastise Hiram lodge for
 its refusal to abandon the ancient form of
 work, the worshipful grand master essays the
 aggressive and proceeds to charge the lodge
 with the crime of forgetfulness. The precise
 point of the charge is that Hiram has forgot
 ten that the Grand lodge provided for a com
 mittee to investigate the matter at issue with
 instructions to report at it's next annual ses- sion. The fact that the Grand lodge, at the
 bidding of the grand master, has met and
 sought to punish Hiram lodge without wait
 ing for the report of its committee would
 indicate that the charge of forgetfulness was
 aimed in the wrong direction. As 8 matter of fact Hiram lodge has forgotten nothing
 It has certainly not forgotten the mockery of
 justice that has been the distinguishing fea- ture of the course pursued by the grand mas
 ter and his advisers from the very outset of
 the controversy. For the fair fame of Ma sorry it would be glad if it could all be for gotten. Unfortunately, with grand master
 so ready to yield to the solicitation of news paper interviewers, this is impossible.
 The worshipful grand masters confidence that at least 90 per cent. of Hiram's members are victims of "false representations" is un- doubtedly we'll grounded. The 'false repre-
 sentations," /" however, are not of character and do not proceed from the source that the worshipful grand master would have the pub lie infer. A specimen of the "false repre- sentations' of which the members of Hiram lodge are really the victims is afforded by the studious attempt of the grand master to make the lodge as lodge responsible for certain unpleasant personal letters received by him. These letters were read with all the rhetorical effect that the grand master was master of at the recent session of the Grand lodge, and they are now paraded by him in the public prints. Yet the fact remains that Hiram lodge is in sense responsible for these let ters. In her address to the Free Masons of Connecticut she took occasion to state her position regarding these letters as follows: 'If there has been any word spoken or any acG uouo III uer (1lFamS UoudlL at variance with that spirit of Masonic courtesy which ought at all times to prevail, she deeply regrets the same. The strained relations that have for some time existed be- tween the Grand lodge and Hiram lodge have naturally resulted in more or less in- discretion, both of word and action, on the part ot individuals over which the mantle of fraternity should be drawn, and which, in the interest of all concerned, should, and it is to be hoped may be forgiven and forgotten" The persistency with which the grand master continues to flourish these letters, despite | the disclaimer of the lodge, indicates that l 'fraternal charity"-to say nothing of com mon fairness-is something decidedly for eign to his nature. With regard to the let ! ter of the master of Hiram lodge, which the | grand master has so successfully used to cre- ] ate prejudice against the lodge itself, it is I fitting that there should be public explan- | ation of the circumstances under which it l was written. This can best be given in | the words of the master himself extracted from his answer to the charges preferred against him in the Grand lodge.
 Referring to the circumstances under which 1 this letter was written he says: |